27/01/2026
Turned a 730-Day Stalemate into a Successful Sale
Some properties are easy — 3 opens, 12 offers and done.
And then there are properties like 185 Torridon Road, Newlands WA — where strategy, patience and a small miracle at Christmas come together.
We were engaged as the property had already been on the market for 730 days with a local agent. That’s roughly:
• 104 weekends
• 24 long weekends
• 2 financial years
• And a lot of false starts
The property had merit it was the advertising campaign was the issue. The previous campaign had one “serious” buyer who looked promising — until we discovered the missing ingredient: funds. A timeless reminder that enthusiasm is not a finance pre-approval.
Buyer Qualification Isn’t Just a Courtesy
We do our best to ensure buyers can actually buy — using brokers, finance discussions, and property searches to see what buyers really have behind the curtain. It protects our clients from lengthy soap operas that don’t end in settlement.
Reframing the Property
This wasn’t just a house; it was 128 acres of possibilities: lifestyle, retreat, equine, farming, tourism, maybe even SDA/social housing. So we stopped trying to sell it as one thing and started selling it as what it truly was — versatile.
That expanded our enquiry from “the neighbours” to:
• Interstaters
• Lifestyle changers
• Hobby farmers
• Retreat investors
• Agri-tourism dreamers
• Social housing operators
Because sometimes the best buyer is not the closest buyer.
The Sale… and Then the Holidays
The property sold for close to $3 million, which made everyone happy. But as any seasoned agent will tell you: the sale is the warm-up; settlement is the main event.
Our buyer had a subject sale (which thankfully moved quickly), and settlement was set for 29 December — the day of the year where banks enjoy the festive spirit and move like it’s 1974.
Just when we thought we were through, our buyer sought a second opinion… from friends. Friends are wonderful, but they generally don’t do ATO certificates, understand PEXA, or transfer large amounts of money in a day — no matter what their group chat says.
After two extensions, and with the help of all the settlement agents who deserves an award for working through Christmas, New Year, and general nonsense — we crossed the line.
Key Lessons (Delivered with a Smile):
🔸 Unique properties require unique marketing
🔸 Buyer qualification saves everyone’s sanity
🔸 Banks in December operate on dial-up
🔸 Friends are not conveyancers (or brokers or agents)
🔸 Extensions exist for a reason
🔸 Patience + humour = survival
Congratulations to our sellers for their perseverance and to our buyers for working through the road blocks. They now own a spectacular property with endless potential — and a great story for their own dinner parties.
If you have a property that doesn’t fit neatly in a box — we’d love to talk. We specialise in boxes with odd shapes.
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